Driving home from Thanksgiving this weekend I heard a pop in my left front wheel assembly and the brakes started to make a grinding noise. My ABS light eventually came on. When I got home and took the wheel and brake assembly off...noticed that I could move the wheel hub up and down. It appears there is a bearing behind the hub and that the bearing has failed. I have the factory service manuals but they did not appear to show this area in detail. How do I get the hub off of the drive axle? There appears to be a cover plate behind the hub that is bolted to the spindle from the back side. Does the bearing sit behind this cover plate? Will I need to remove the drive axle to replace the failed bearing? How do you remove the drive axle? Are there special tools I will need...like to remove the hub from the drive axle? What is in there that may need to be replaced to repair the ABS system?

prosseda

11-26-11, 06:00 PM

Did you know the whole hub has to be replaced. The new hub contains the ABS sensor. One 38mm nut comes off the center to allow the axle to pull out of the hub unless you have 2wd. Then you take two bolts off the brake caliper and remove it so you can pull the disc off. You may have one torx bolt holding your disc on. Handle the disc by the edges. Now with the disc off, only three bolts hold on the hub. If all you are doing is changing the hub, it could be done in less than 20 minutes.

WVESV

11-26-11, 06:46 PM

Thanks for the reply. No, I did not know the whole hub has to be replaced. Do I have to remove the axle shaft to replace the hub? Is the hub pressed onto the axle shaft?

SouthernCaddy

11-27-11, 10:35 AM

No it is not pressed in. It has spines on it. You need to get a quailty hub. I would not do the cheap auto parts stores. I only use GM factory ones.

bstiffmanofsteel

11-27-11, 12:39 PM

I picked up one at NAPA for about $140 bucks back in February, no issues...

WVESV

11-27-11, 12:46 PM

How hard was it to get the nut off of the axle shaft? Once the nut is removed and the 3 retaining bolts are moved, how hard was it to pull the hub off?

SouthernCaddy

11-27-11, 07:58 PM

I picked up one at NAPA for about $140 bucks back in February, no issues...

Napa is the only other place I would buy from. Gm being my first choice.